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Summary: Indispensible VB Resource
Review: This book is a superb combination of quality and value. Asfor quality, there is a summary of every native VB function (plus thefilesystem, dictionary, data binding and data formatting objects) with useful examples and good non trivial tips, as well as all the VB constants. There are also 6 chapters (about a 1/5 of the book) that discuss the basics of VB, plus class modules, automation and error handling. If you are VB developer who feels comfortable working with the language but you forget the odd thing (and who doesn't), then you cannot go wrong with this book. The quality control on the book is exceptional & you always find a new tip or gotcha.
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Summary: Very useful; Excellent value
Review: A concise reference with just the right amount of information to answer my questions immediately. Using it is often faster than on-line help. A must-have for anyone spending any time working in VB. And it's so nice to see a reasonably-priced computer book!
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Summary: This is my VB reference Bible
Review: After searching for weeks for a real VB reference that actually contains useful information is not as easy as it may seem. Sure there are 1001 books out there on VB, but finding a GOOD advanced reference guide is not easy (just look at the reviews of the VB bible, or the VB blue/black/gold books). I searched for hours for methods of remote control running of dos programs (such as archivers and legacy database programs) through many books and the internet. This VB book, and one little code snippet with no explanation from microsoft, were the only places where I found a means to do it (and this book explained the concept thoroughly). Three cheers for O,Reilly and quality!!
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Summary: A Great VB Book--No Fluff
Review: All of the O'Reilly "Nutshell" books are great! I couldn't believe they finally did a VB nutshell book. I am sleeping with it under my pillow! O'Reilly Nutshell books are thorough, clear, and concise. They never go off on 40-page tangents about some common sense topic. Don't get suckered into paying $40 for one of those "Learn VB in 10 Seconds" books. They take four chapters to introduce you to the dad-blame keyboard! Buy it--you'll like it!
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Summary: Must have for every VB programmer.
Review: An incredible _printed_ reference to the language used by VB and VBA. Lomax has done for VB5/VB6 what Mansfield did for VB3 in 'The Visual Guide to Visual Basic'.
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Summary: What a programming reference should be
Review: Any time I'm looking at programming reference books, I compare them to this one. I recommend it to anyone still learning VB. One caveat: this is a very focussed book. It doesn't cover the IDE or controls, so beginners will want a more general VB text to go with it.
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Summary: A good reference, definitely not a tutorial
Review: As a C++ and former BASIC programmer, I picked up this book to have a reference of all the keywords and constants in the VB language, but also to see simple examples of concepts and have the overall structure of the language explained to me. This book provides an excellent desktop reference of all the functions and keywords, etc., as most of the book is just that. The first/remaining 1/3 of the book covers the "structure" territory, but not terribly well. It does this as an explanation to VB5 programmers who are moving up to VB6; definitely NOT from the perspective of an object-oriented language like C++, making the switch. IMHO, the explanations are quite confusing (e.g. the author assumes certain VB concepts are already known, such as the difference between code modules and class modules, etc.); the author eschews full code examples (providing only snippets and fragments); and there are no exercises whatsoever anywhere in the book with which to test your knowledge. As a tutorial (admittedly, the reviewers here have said this is NOT), the book fails miserably. As a reference for an established VB programmer, I'd say it's quite good. I'm only disappointed I will have to seek out a different book to get the lessons I now (still) need.
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Summary: Buy this book!
Review: As a former Unix/C programmer, who's been out of programming for three years, switching to VB programming was a bit of a shock. This book is invaluable. For example, it lists all the string functions in an appendix. Most of the book is ordered alphabetically, so you just flip to that function and get it's full syntax and some good examples. Part of the problem I was having was not knowing which functions existed. MSDN is fine if you know the function name, but when you don't you're usually stuck. This book solves that problem. It's really worth it's weight in gold, and I refer to it many times a day.
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Summary: Buy this book!
Review: As a former Unix/C programmer, who's been out of programming for three years, switching to VB programming was a bit of a shock. This book is invaluable. For example, it lists all the string functions in an appendix. Most of the book is ordered alphabetically, so you just flip to that function and get it's full syntax and some good examples. Part of the problem I was having was not knowing which functions existed. MSDN is fine if you know the function name, but when you don't you're usually stuck. This book solves that problem. It's really worth it's weight in gold, and I refer to it many times a day.
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Summary: Convenient, Concise, Complete
Review: As a VB client-server programmer, I hardly have the time to wait for VB's HTML help to appear, much less search through it! This book is really in a class by itself as far as VB references go. It's the perfect size to keep right at hand, yet it contains the answer to virtually every question I've asked it. The encyclopedia-type language reference is preceded by exceptional discussions of VB data types, classes, object models, and error handling, and also includes several interesting and useful appendices. About the only thing I've not found in it is an ASCII chart. The language element entries are peppered with sidebars on relevant topics, all entries are discussed with remote automation issues in mind, and great examples abound (the entry for the Format function runs to 9 pages, mostly examples). If you program VB for a living, you've got to have this book close by.
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